Kevin Clash

Kevin Clash is a principal puppeteer with The Jim Henson Company and serves as the Muppet Captain on Sesame Street. His Muppet characters include Elmo, Hoots, Natasha and many others from Sesame Street; Leon from The Jim Henson Hour; Baby Sinclair from Dinosaurs; Eliot Shag from Jim Henson's Dog City; Bad Polly from the feature film Muppet Treasure Island and Clifford from The Jim Henson Hour and Muppets Tonight.

Clash began building puppets when he was 10 years old. At age 12, he began performing. After putting on puppet shows in his neighborhood, he eventually worked his way up to shows at Baltimore's Harbor Front. His first work in television was for Baltimore's CBS affiliate, Channel 2, where he performed puppets for two local children's shows. One of the shows was screened at a children's television convention in New York and caught the attention of Muppet designer Kermit Love. It was Love who introduced him to the Muppets, and soon Clash began performing on Sesame Street.

In 1986, Clash traveled to England to perform several characters and serve as assistant puppeteer coordinator for Jim Henson's fantasy film Labyrinth. In addition to Labyrinth, Clash's feature film credits include Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles I and II, in which he performed Splinter. Most recently, he performed a number of Muppet characters in the hit feature film Muppet Treasure Island, including one of the lead pirates, Bad Polly. In 1993, Clash was honored with an Emmy Award for his work on Sesame Street.